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After making a promising debut as their nominee, John McCain has worried many Republicans by seeming to flounder during the past few weeks.
AP Photo

Once optimistic about John McCain’s prospects for the fall general election, Republicans are increasingly concerned that he could wind up badly outgunned, saddled with serious deficiencies of money, organization and partisan intensity against the likely Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.

After making a promising debut as their nominee, McCain has worried many Republicans by seeming to flounder during the past few weeks.

The campaign has been rattled recently by fallout from McCain’s determination to purge his campaign of lobbying conflicts. The departure of five staff members has provided ammunition to Democrats and produced a snarl of damaging news coverage questioning McCain’s reformist image.

It’s a troubling development, because when Obama likely finally captures the nomination and begins to consolidate his party, there’s yet another matter for Republicans to lose sleep over — the polling bump the Democrat is expected to receive.

GOP operatives and officials around the country acknowledge Obama’s commanding financial and organizational advantage as the general election begins to take shape, noting that he benefits from both the toxic climate for the GOP and a lengthy primary that has enabled him to build an organization in every state in America.

“He spent over $5 million on TV,” said Mark Jefferson, Wisconsin's Republican Party executive director, referring to Obama’s advertising buy in the hotly contested Badger State primary in February. “McCain spent $180,000. And [Obama’s] got far more ground troops.”

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), an early McCain backer in the primary, called the Obama juggernaut “a formidable thing to deal with.”

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“Clearly, Republicans are going to have to do a fantastic job of turnout programs, and probably have to focus more on conservative Democrats and independents than on Republicans,” Burr said. Of the McCain operation, he said: “They’re doing more things right than they are wrong.”

Still, some see the McCain campaign as a pale imitation of the well-financed Bush campaigns, both models of precision and ruthless efficiency.

McCain’s effort inevitably suffers by comparison, since it’s easy to forget that the last Republican campaign was a presidential reelection model built over a four-year span. Like an older brother who was a star quarterback, Bush-Cheney ’04 was a state-of-the-art, $300-million wonder that was bound to make any successor look primitive by comparison.

Indeed, Republicans now fret that at the very time they expect to face an opponent who has generated record participation and enthusiasm, they are going into battle with a campaign whose mechanics are a generation behind — a pager measured against an iPhone.

“The mechanics, the ground game costs money,” said Alex Gage, a political consultant who was the Bush-Cheney campaign’s microtargeting guru from 2004. “And the mechanics are going to be a huge problem.”

It’s a problem drawing notice far beyond the Beltway.

“There is certainly no staff presence,” said Doug Badger, an Oregon GOP strategist who ran the Bush-Cheney campaign in the state four years ago. “I assume he’ll pretty much run an air campaign and rely on the party to do the grassroots. We had six paid Bush campaign staff on the ground on March 1st of ’04. Money is a big part of that.”

Justin Sayfie, a top fundraising bundler in Florida for both President Bush and his brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said the McCain campaign's grass-roots and finance organization in his state “is still a work in progress and doesn't yet match the formidable Bush-Cheney '04 organization in the state.”

Another prominent Republican who has worked at the highest levels of GOP politics concedes: “There’s no question that the McCain effort lacks the sophistication of the last couple of cycles.”

Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain, rejected the comparison, saying that the “nature of the campaign is different” since the last one was built by an incumbent president.

“But we believe that we’ll run as sophisticated a campaign as has ever been in the history of presidential politics,” Schmidt said. “There’s been refinements in techniques and technology that will allow us to target voters to get out the vote and we’ll take full advantage of all of them.”

Far from giving up on McCain, Bush-Cheney veterans remain convinced that his independence and war hero stature make him the one Republican with a prayer of retaining the White House in the worst political environment since Watergate.

“For Oregon, he’s clearly the best candidate that Republicans could nominate,” observed Badger.

These Republicans are encouraged by McCain’s unique strengths as a candidate and by Obama’s distinctive vulnerabilities.

“The generic ballot isn’t favorable to Republicans but we’re buoyed by the fact that McCain has a lot of appeal to moderates and Reagan Democrats,” said Jefferson.

Oh just stop it Politico. Your bias in the last week or so is embarassing!

This is late May, and we are 6 months away from the elections. 6 months in politics is 6 lifetimes so stop with these stories straight out of Obama Central or what credibility you have left will be gone!

I am certain at Senator McCain's age , every morning when he wakes up in DC or Pheonix , he struggles with the name of the person lying beside him ? Is it Cindy or Vicki ? Can I call Rick Davis and ask him if she is a member of the staff ? Didn't we put a out a No Conflicts of Interest policy ? If she is a staff member , maybe we can make an exception to the policy [ like we did for DAVIS] . I would assume struggling with the general election would be minor to Senator McCain's battle every morning .

John McCain is a strong candidate, and I am certain that his support is resolved to stand up for small government, less spending, an honorable end to the war in Iraq, including the full rout of Al Qaeda. The mind of a great part of the electorate is in tandem with McCain, a strong and proven leader. There is no doubt on that score. We are in it to win it.

It's great that McCain has plenty of time to plan the strategy of his 2008 win. He has been gathering forces, and he must have something up his sleeve. I rather think he does. I trust that he does.

Who is that lady ? Didn't I used to know a dancer who was the daughter of one of the 3 Stooges ? Is it her ? What was her name ? Carol ....... Carol Shepp , I mean Shemp ! That 's it ! Carol Shemp ! Did her Daddy make a big enough donation ?

You know,it seems there is a big difference between 2000 McCain and 2008 McCain. Noticable Flipflops: 1-Jerry Fallwell 2-Bush Tax Cuts 3-Global Warming 4-Influence of Lobbyists (he has 47 registered lobbyists on his campaign) 5-Confederate Flag 6-His OWN immigration Bill (said he wouldn't vote for it in a Rep. debate) 7-Torture (I hope this is just some Senate technicallity, otherwise it would be appaling) I mean, all the things he was a moderate on, he flipflopped on them. He isn't George Bush, he's just carrying all his failed policies: The War, the economy, health care. McCain's problem is the Republican problem. They don't get this isn't 2004, 2002, or 2000. The country has changed. The same "If you vote for a democrat you are going to die" line isn't going to work. It didn't work in 2006 it won't work in 2008.

Ive been thru this before.Back in 2004 The democrat media who voted for kerry 9 out of 10.Were energizing their base in all ways possible.From fitty cents to Michael Moore.A once in a lifetime chance they used to say.The youth vote will come out in force.Anybody but Bush.Bush is a monkey.Unemployment was 6.8% and the media shouted it from the mountain tops.Heck they even leaked National Security Secrets for the enemy to see.They showed us how the world hates us and how they all support kerry.They trashed The president Abroad.trashed America.They didn't care.My point is All the money in the world and Left wing media does not an Election win.America is still a Christian nation.One that doesn't like to lose.One thats inherently anti socialism and liberalism.Its a center right nation.The Liberal Elites in the media are once again upto their old tricks.But us so called bitter people who cling to their guns and religion. Who they think are to stupid to know how better their leftwing socialist progressive Ideology is.Always win in the end.

There's one issue that McCain could use to rally the base and that's judicial appointments.The Cal. SC on gay marriage and the 9th circus court of appeals on gays in the military are examples of the kind of judical activism that must be stopped.This will help McCain in the swing states to boost turnout.The Dems have been blocking Bush's judges for two years in pure political partisanship.Thedems are handing all kinds of gifts for McCain to run on but since he's a not an grassroots conservative he's not taking advantage of it. Romney would be smacking all these issues out of the ballpark.Pick Romney as the VP and let him be the attack dog against the Dems. he knows how to articulate the conservative point of view,where McCain can't.The grandstanding by the Dems on gas prices shows they have no real answers on energy excepting taxing the hell out of already hurting consumers.Then they will use the money to hire green bureaucrats for the college grads that can't find a job in the real world. Obama is dead meat in the general election if McCain just does some common sense things. The problem is his main guy Rick Davis is a self serving jerk and will gve him bad advice.McCain should dump Davis and hire Kevin Madden.

McCain's problem - Lobbyists. People are tired of government for sale. McCain has sold his soul to get the nomination - I have no idea who he is now, and I onced liked him a lot. He now represents what's wrong with government.

Dead wrong about Iraq and Iran, no clue about the economy, what recommends him? Used to be he demonstrated some integrity, but that, apparently, just got in the way. Sad, really.

You know,it seems there is a big difference between 2000 McCain and 2008 McCain. Noticable Flipflops: 1-Jerry Fallwell 2-Bush Tax Cuts 3-Global Warming 4-Influence of Lobbyists (he has 47 registered lobbyists on his campaign) 5-Confederate Flag 6-His OWN immigration Bill (said he wouldn't vote for it in a Rep. debate) 7-Torture (I hope this is just some Senate technicallity, otherwise it would be appaling) I mean, all the things he was a moderate on, he flipflopped on them. He isn't George Bush, he's just carrying all his failed policies: The War, the economy, health care. McCain's problem is the Republican problem. They don't get this isn't 2004, 2002, or 2000. The country has changed. The same "If you vote for a democrat you are going to die" line isn't going to work. It didn't work in 2006 it won't work in 2008

Clinton has taken Kentucky and Obama is right there in Oregon. The Democratic race for nomination is still very much alive ? and most likely to be decided by superdelegates ? as CNN points out clearly http://edition.cnn.com/2008/PO... If you?re tired of waiting around for those super delegates to make a decision already, go to LobbyDelegates.com and push them to support Clinton or Obama If you haven't done so yet, please write a message to each of your state's superdelegates at http://www.lobbydelegates.com Obama Supporters: Sending a note to current Obama supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Clinton supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Obama, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Obama. It's that easy... Clinton Supporters too ?. ! It takes a moment, but what's a few minutes now worth to get Clinton in office?! Those are really worth ! Sending a note to current Clinton supporters lets them know it's appreciated, sending a note to current Obama supporters can hopefully sway them to change their vote to Clinton, and sending a note to the uncommitted folks will hopefully sway them to vote for Clinton. It's that easy...

John McCain is a strong candidate, but he can't win, and from this truth, he is not running to win in the conventional sense. McCain will not win the presidency, everyone knows this but anything is possible. McCains role, his service now, his candidacy, is to save the republican brand, to help the party to at least hold the position they have in congress now. The people want vision in the white house, a new approach built on tough diplomacy, but a few hard-liners in congress could make the people feel better on the combined parallels of national security.

McCain will run a good campaign based on militant diplomacy. The people respect his service, but irrelevant to whether McCain, Clinton or Obama control the white house, they know the military is always ready. This election will not bring the white house, that battle is lost; this is a holding-strategy, in the real battlefield: congress, where the balance of power has shifted to the middle.

Kathy--everyone has seen your superdelegate plea. It has been plastered all over every thread for days now.

At this point it is apparent that you are receiving royalties for pasting this hooey.

Please try something original.....I know it will be difficult, as there are few valid arguments for your case, but at least TRY.

Otherwise you just look lazy.

right time: May. 22, 2008 - 5:33 AM EST

It's great that McCain has plenty of time to plan the strategy of his 2008 win. He has been gathering forces, and he must have something up his sleeve. I rather think he does. I trust that he does.

McCain has plenty of time to plan a strategy, but the revolving door at his campaign HQ will make that some task.

Mark McKinnon, McCain's chief media consultant , (who also took part in GW Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns) quit McCain's campaign this week. He had indicated early in the race that if Senator Obama was the Democratic nominee, he would recuse himself from the campaign rather than take part in tearing down this great candidate.